Your Backyard Garden Information Source
LEAFY GREENS Lettuce leads the way among garden-grown greens and few vegetables are as easy to grow in the cool weather of spring and fall. Instead of trying to grow hard-headed iceberg types, fill your garden with the unusual colors and leaf textures found in loose-head selections, often called leaf lettuce. Stiff-ribbed Romaine lettuces are not difficult to grow either, […]
Potentilla – Cinquefoil, Five Finger Potentillas greatly resemble the Strawberry Plant, especially in the manner of growth and the foliage. This is a trailing plant which covers the ground rapidly and sends out roots as it goes along. The flowers are very showy, the colors are very bright, with reds, oranges and yellows predominating. These flowers are both double and […]
No recreation costs so little or gives so much fun and satisfaction as gardening. A few dollars and just a little plot of ground starts you. Here are the basic tools needed for a small garden: Spade or spading fork. Hoe for conditioning soil and weeding. Rake to prepare a fine seedbed and keep things neat. A watering can or […]
Once you have settled on a potential site for your pond, you need to decide on the size. If you want fish and a variety of plants, it would be best to have a larger in-ground pond. This doesn’t mean you would not be successful with a half-barrel or other type of patio-deck water container garden. Now is the time […]
Summer care and Algae By the Pond Lady Summer is here and everything in your pond is in full rhythm, flowers are blooming, and your fish are active. Algae is growing and you’re wondering what do I do about that green water or what is that fuzzy green stuff on my pots and around the sides of my pond. You […]
The soil must have adequate drainage otherwise air may be excluded and the more beneficial micro-organisms may be destroyed. Soils which have poor drainage are often sour and acid. It will be necessary to improve this acidity by applications of hydrated lime. Wet soils are cold ones, and this means that plant growth is severely retarded. The situation is even […]
Summer Mulching. An even temperature around the roots and a steady supply of moisture in the soil are all important to growing plants. A mulch, applied in early summer after hot weather begins, tends to maintain these conditions as well as to control harmful weeds. Mulch materials suitable for summer use are numerous, and the choice will often depend on […]
From the Greek dolphin, a dolphin, the flowerbuds having some resemblance to that sea creature (Ranunculaceae). Larkspur. The genus consists of annual, biennial and herbaceous perennial plants, mostly hardy and showy plants for border cultivation, with some dwarf species suitable for the rock garden. Perennial D. brunonianum, 1-11 feet, light purple, June and July, western China. D. cardinale, 2-3 feet, […]